Weeks after the Federal government began
sending snail mail notifications to the 21.5 million victims of the
Office of Personnel Management breach, the Department of Defense
proposed creating a hack victims database.

The Pentagon’s proposed database, the
Defense Manpower Data Center, would store the information in a
“holding file,” according to an Oct. 14 Federal Register notice.

“The information collected will be used
only to verify whether or not an individual was impacted by the OPM
cybersecurity incident involving background investigation records and
to send a letter confirming status as ‘impacted’ or ‘not
impacted’ by this incident,” the proposal stated.

Phil Lee writes that the collapse of Safe Harbor
leads to a crisis in restoring trust that might be addressed, in
part, by U.S. businesses making an anti-surveillance pledge. He
writes, in part:

What does an anti-surveillance pledge
look like? It takes the form of a short statement, perhaps no more
than two or three paragraphs in length, under which the business
would pledge never knowingly to disclose individuals’ data to
government or law enforcement authorities unless either (1) legally
compelled to do so (for example, by way of a warrant or court order),
or (2) there is a risk of serious and imminent harm were disclosure
to be withheld (for example, imminent terrorist threat). The pledge
would be signed by senior management of the business, and made
publicly-available as an externally-facing commitment to resist
unlawful government-led surveillance activities – for example, by
posting on a website or incorporation within an accessible privacy
policy.

Will taking a pledge like this solve the
EU-US data export crisis? No. Will it prevent government
surveillance activities occurring upstream on Internet and telecoms
pipes over which the business has no control? No. But will it
demonstrate a commitment to the world that the business takes its
data subjects’ privacy concerns seriously and that it will do what
is within its power to do to prevent unlawful surveillance –
absolutely: it’s a big step towards accountably showing “adequate”
handling of data.

If Google has an Achilles heel, it’s mobile
search, but in reality it is also PC search. And a detailed analysis
on why this is so was
published by tech journalist Charles Arthur on his blog recently.

… Arthur uses Google’s own data to come up
with these results. The first important data point is that the
company now sees around 100 billion total searches each month, and
mobile makes up half of it, or 50 billion. By taking that number and
the amount of smartphones that can perform Google searches — 1.8
billion in a 30-day period — it comes out to 0.925 to 0.98 mobile
searches per day over a 30-day period, or around 27.8 every month.

Perspective. Where are we heading? On demand,
buy-the-drink, anywhere, anytime entertainment. (and possibly some
educational stuff?)

You know the cable TV bundle is crumbling when the
big networks start swinging the sledgehammers.

NBC will soon begin doing its part with SeeSo,
the comedy-focused streaming service it announced last week. When it
launches in January, SeeSo will offer a mix of NBC broadcast shows
such as Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, more than
20 original series (Community creator Dan Harmon, for
instance, is on board for an “animated adventure”), and
syndicated programs such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus
and Kids in the Hall. NBC plans to charge $4 per month for
the service, with no commercials. An invite-only beta arrives in
December.

This is uncharted territory for both NBC and TV
networks in general, and it's a sure sign that the TV landscape is
changing. It’s also proof that the unbundling of cable TV is a good
thing for consumers, no matter what the cable apologists tell you.

… SeeSo is a glimpse into a future where the
big networks start slicing off their programming into highly-focused
streaming services, all available a la carte. (As I’ve written
before, streaming
services are really just channels in disguise.) The average TV
viewer might subscribe to a handful of these smaller, lower-priced
channels, plus one or two “premium” services such as Netflix or
HBO Now. Even if you don’t get as much content as you would with a
cable TV bundle, you’ll still save money on a programming lineup
that caters to your interests.

“This
project proposes a comprehensive mapping of contemporary geographies
of knowledge. Information is the raw material for much of the
work that goes on in the contemporary global economy. As such, it is
important to understand who produces and reproduces, who has access,
and who and where are represented by information in our contemporary
knowledge economy. Our goal is to produce a comprehensive atlas of
contemporary information and Internet geographies, that will draw on
four years of focused research conducted at the Oxford Internet
Institute. Specifically, the atlas will draw on unique data,
visualisations, and maps in order to tell a story about three key
facets of global information geographies (access, information
production, and information representation) We
aim to broadly disseminate this work in a variety of open and
accessible formats including free and interactive ebooks, an
interactive website, and a printed atlas. We’re still
at early stages of the work, but keep an eye on this site for all of
our updates.”

Is Dilbert foretelling the doom of all
professions? (And eventually all humans?)

Links

About Me

I live in Centennial Colorado. (I'm not actually 100 years old., but I hope to be some day.) I'm an independant computer consultant, specializing in solving problems that traditional IT personnel tend to have difficulty with... That includes everything from inventorying hardware & software, to converting systems & data, to training end-users. I particularly enjoy taking on projects that IT has attempted several times before with no success. I also teach at two local Universities: everything from Introduction to Microcomputers through Business Continuity and Security Management. My background includes IT Audit, Computer Security, and a variety of unique IT projects.